Grocery shopping and five cheap meals

What to know

1. Know your number. USDA's Thrifty Food Plan, its estimate of a healthy diet with every meal cooked at home, costs $58.50 a week for a woman 20 to 50 and $73.60 for a man 20 to 50, as of August 2026. Source: USDA¹ Those figures are for people in a four-person household. USDA suggests adding 20 percent if you live alone, Source: USDA¹ which works out to roughly $70 and $88 a week (our math).
2. Plan before you shop. Iowa State's Spend Smart. Eat Smart. program says eating healthy on a budget starts with a plan: meals and snacks that fit your budget and your schedule. Source: Iowa State Extension² Pick three to five dinners for the week, then check what you already have.
3. Write the list by store section (produce, cans and dry goods, dairy, frozen, meat) so you walk the store once. Buy what's on the list. If something's on sale and you'll really use it, swap it for a list item instead of adding it.
4. Compare unit prices, not package prices. The unit price is the price per ounce, pound or count, and it's usually on the shelf tag. Source: NIST⁹ In Iowa State's example, 1 pound of baby carrots costs $0.99 a pound, a 2-pound bag $0.94 a pound, and 1 pound of full-size carrots $0.68 a pound. The full-size carrots are the best buy if you have time to peel and cut them. Source: Iowa State Extension³
5. Do the math yourself when there's no tag: price divided by size. For cereal, divide the price by the servings on the Nutrition Facts label. A $2.29 box with 10 servings ($0.22 each) beat a $3.99 box with 15 ($0.26 each). Source: Iowa State Extension³
6. Compare forms too: fresh, frozen and canned. In the same example, canned green beans cost $0.06 an ounce, frozen $0.08 and fresh $0.13. Source: Iowa State Extension³ Frozen and canned also don't spoil before you get to them.
7. Watch for shrinkflation: the same price for a smaller package. NIST says unit pricing is the best tool a shopper has for catching it. Source: NIST⁹
8. Shop food safety in order. Bag raw meat separately, and store it at home in containers or sealed, leakproof bags. Source: FoodSafety.gov¹⁰ Get cold food home and into the fridge. Never leave perishable food out more than 2 hours, or 1 hour if it's above 90°F, like in a hot car. Source: FoodSafety.gov¹⁰
9. Cook the five meals below in an order that uses up the fresh stuff first: the roasted vegetables and egg skillet early in the week, the beans, rice, potatoes and frozen corn later.
10. Cook once, eat twice. Eat leftovers within 3 to 4 days or freeze them, and reheat them to 165°F. Source: USDA¹² The burrito bowl freezes well. Source: Iowa State Extension⁵

Five cheap meals from the same staples

All five are from Iowa State University Extension's Spend Smart. Eat Smart. program, with its listed cost per serving. Prices change with time and place, so treat these as a rough guide.

Shared staples: black beans, corn, cheese, potatoes, peppers and onions. One shopping trip covers most of the week.

A sample list for these five (made-up example)

• Produce: a 5-lb bag of potatoes, 2 bell peppers, 2 onions, broccoli or carrots for roasting
• Cans and dry goods: instant brown rice, 2 cans black beans, 1 can diced tomatoes, a jar of salsa, pizza sauce, cumin, chili powder
• Dairy and eggs: a dozen eggs, a bag of shredded cheese
• Frozen: a bag of corn
• Meat and bread: a rotisserie or uncooked chicken, a turkey kielbasa, sliced ham or turkey, hot dog buns or English muffins

If it doesn't work

• No time to cook? Make the burrito bowl on Sunday. It's done in about 10 minutes of skillet time once the instant rice is cooked. Source: Iowa State Extension⁵
• Out of money before the end of the month? SNAP benefits come on an EBT card that works like a debit card at authorized stores. You apply in your own state, and in most cases you get a decision within 30 days, or within 7 days in some urgent cases. Source: USDA¹⁴
• Not sure the leftovers are still OK? Check the cold storage chart. Source: FoodSafety.gov¹¹ When in doubt, throw it out.
• Food going bad before you use it? Buy frozen vegetables and canned beans, and plan two meals that use the same fresh item (peppers and onions show up in three of the five meals below).